Bud Martinez comes to work most Monday mornings at the garage at the Shell gas station at California and Steiner Streets, just as he has for more than 50 years — and more than a decade after he sold the station and vowed to retire.

In 1952, he started working at the Shell station. Before long he took a former employer’s offer of help and, for $4,000, bought the station. In 1996, after decades of long hours and hard labor, Martinez decided to sell the station and retire. But just when he thought he was done, the station pulled him back. “The fellow I sold it to made some mistakes, so I came back to help him,” says Martinez. “Things didn’t work out, so Shell Oil Company took it over and hired a management company. I’ve been here ever since and there have been four new owners. I’m still here, but not as the boss.”
Martinez’s honesty and charm have been a magnet not only for the locals, but for many of the city’s notables as well. His customers have ranged from department store magnate Cyril Magnin to basketball hall of famer Nate Thurmond, with plenty of corporate chiefs and the occasional 49er and Raider.

One of the most beloved of Martinez’s high-profile customers was Herb Caen, the Chronicle columnist who would bring his Jaguar — he called it the White Rat — in for service. “Herb was a prince,” says Martinez. “He put me in his column four or five times, and every time he did that, this place would get stacked with cars. I got a lot of business from him — I couldn’t buy that kind of advertising. He was a wonderful man.”

At 78, Bud Martinez is still under the engine.

Martinez says one of the most unusual cars he came across was basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain’s pink Mercedes convertible. “He was so tall and his seat was so far back that I had to scoot all the way down just to reach his pedals,” says Martinez, laughing at the memory. “I could barely see above the steering wheel.” Chamberlain and Raider Hall of Famer Gene Upshaw would leave their cars at the station and walk over to eat at Thurmond’s soul food restaurant on Fillmore Street.

Martinez has been servicing the community for so long that he’s seen several generations of customers. Many of his regulars eventually brought in their children, and many have brought their grandchildren. “Customers come in all the time and say, ‘You know my mom and dad!’ ” he says. “It’s unbelievable I’ve been here that long.”

Douglas Fredell, the current owner of Shell Auto Repair, asked Martinez to stay on when he took over the garage. “Many, many people who live around here know him,” says Fredell. “People stop by several times a week just asking where he is, or if he’s still working.” Fredell says Martinez, at 78, is an ideal employee. “He’s a hard worker and he’s super reliable,” Fredell says. “He’s got that old-fashioned sensibility about him of how to treat people and how he carries his work ethic. Then, of course, he wants to keep working. Even if I told him not to come in anymore, he’d still come in.”

Martinez says it’s the customers who keep him on the corner of California and Steiner. “I enjoy working on cars and fixing problems, but it’s mainly the people,” he says. “It’s been my life for 57 years and we’ve got the best customers in the world here.”

Now Martinez works at the station only three days a week, Mondays through Wednesdays. “Right now, I’m going month to month,” he says. “The only thing that’s going to stop me is arthritis.”

Current Issue

STREET TALK

TWO TOP TOQUES AT FILLMORE & PINE

He’s not ready just yet to serve up the new name or the food concept planned for the now-shuttered and butcher-papered space on the northwest corner of Pine and Fillmore. But John Litz, who jettisoned the old Thai Stick sign last month, just introduced his partners in the venture he’s set to establish there: the top toque team of Sayat and Laura Ozyilmaz.

Between them, the two chefs have cooked at five of the 50 world’s best restaurants, according to the respected San Pellegrino list for 2018, including: 111 Madison Park and Le Bernardin in Manhattan, Blue Hill at Stone Barn in Tarrytown, N.Y., Murgaritz in San Sebastian, Spain, and San Francisco’s own Saison. All are either Michelin two or three star rated. Currently the duo are owner-chefs of Istanbul Modern SF, a pop-up restaurant on Russian Hill.

It seems fitting that the former shoe repair shop at 2448 Fillmore has been reborn as a shoe store. But while it offers ballet flats, as many other shops do, Rothy’s is not like the rest. Its flats are made in China from recycled plastic water bottles.

“Look good in your Rothy’s and feel good about your Rothy’s,” boasts the online company, which now has its first brick-and-mortar store.

THREE NEW SPOTS OPEN IN THE LOWER FILLMORE

The craft grocer Merchant Roots is now open at 1365 Fillmore, offering gourmet packaged items, prepared food and dinner three nights each week.

The LoMo got another notable new restaurant when the pop-up RTB Fillmore reopened in April at 1552 Fillmore as Avery. It offers tasting menus at $89, $189 and $289, with wine or sake pairings.

A few blocks south at 1521 Eddy, the Fillmore Social Club is open and serving up Korean cuisine in what once was Gussie’s Chicken & Waffles.

COMING TO FILLMORE: WINE WITH VERVE

The former Gimme Shoes shop at 2358 Fillmore — in recent months a series of pop-ups — now has its city approvals to be transformed into Verve, a wine store also offering tastings and other events.

Verve already has a similar shop in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, where it offers “a curated selection of global greatest hits.”

LET US COUNT OUR MICHELIN STARS

How fortunate are we to live in this neighborhood? The new Michelin guide offers a clue.

• Three Fillmore restaurants got a star: SPQR, the Progress and State Bird Provisions, plus Octavia at Octavia and Bush and Spruce on Sacramento.

• At 3127 Fillmore, Atelier Crenn got two stars.

• And we can still claim Quince, now all beautifully grown up in Jackson Square, which got a full set of three stars, and first planted its roots where Octavia is now.

That’s not all: Dosa and Sociale are on the Bib Gourmands list of restaurants with “exceptionally good food at moderate prices.” (And so is Quince’s handsome brother, Cotogna.)